


the most wonderful time of the year

by falloutmars



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: A good one, Christmas!!!, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Gift Giving, and a snapshot of bughead’s christmas day, ft a surprise👀, lots and lots of fluff, shopping for gifts, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:55:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28137303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/falloutmars/pseuds/falloutmars
Summary: It’s exactly two weeks before Christmas Day and Betty is wandering through a busy shopping mall, armed with various bags filled with gifts.–It’s Christmas Eve when Jughead battles his way through thousands of people on the subway and millions of people in the mall.–or, Christmas gift shopping with Betty and Jughead.
Relationships: Betty Cooper/Jughead Jones
Comments: 30
Kudos: 73
Collections: 8th Bughead Fanfiction Awards - Nominees





	the most wonderful time of the year

**Author's Note:**

> welcome to christmas fic one of two! i hope you enjoy!

It’s exactly two weeks before Christmas Day and Betty is wandering through a busy shopping mall, armed with various bags filled with gifts. She likes to be prepared, but with this year being the first in hers and Jughead’s new house out in the suburbs of Seattle, she’s been overly busy, and so two weeks before the big day is the earliest she can drag herself out.

She left Jughead at home. He’s meant to be decorating the spare room, but whether or not he’ll do it is another question. They’re both just so _tired_ , so she wouldn’t exactly blame him if he didn’t, though she isn’t having a very relaxing time fighting her way through the crowds.

And anyway, she needed to leave him at home to be able to buy his gift.

...or gifts. 

(She can never resist.)

Except this year, she’s been wandering around for hours, buying gifts for their friends and family whilst searching for things for Jughead, and she has yet to find him _anything_. He used to be so easy to buy for: a typewriter, a leather-bound notebook, that fancy fountain pen he’d been eyeing up online. But _now_ , now they’re adults with jobs that mean they are lucky enough to have some spare income to buy the things they want, he _has_ everything; they both do.

And do you buy your boyfriend of almost eight _eight_ years and he still hasn’t proposed!) years who has _everything_?

Well, that’s a question Betty’s trying to answer.

He’s the last person left on her list. She’d bought for everyone else. A candle and wall hanging for her mother that she’ll have to box up and send in the mail sooner rather than later; a vinyl for JB from both her and Jughead for when they see her in the few days after Christmas; a scarf and gloves set—cashmere—for Veronica that’ll be one of the few given on Christmas Day; and finally, a large bottle of the state’s best rum to mail to Toni across the border in Canada. As well as that absolute haul, she manages to pick up a few Christmassy decorations and a 50 pack of cards to hand out to her work colleagues.

But absolutely nothing for her boyfriend.

She’s in and out of various shops, sifting through rails of clothing and aisles of gifts, but she cannot find anything. At one point, she genuinely considers going back into Hot Topic and seeing if they sell anything of that weird green alien _thing_ from this new show he’d been obsessed with (The Mandalorian?), but in the end, she decides he’ll probably hate it within the week, so she might as well save her money.

And it’s not even like she can put it off and come back another day. She’s super busy at work in the run-up to the festive period, so that on top of house stuff means she barely has a moment to spare now.

Plus, the crowds will be getting busier by the day, and she really doesn’t want to be fighting her way through even more people than this.

She could, theoretically, buy online. It lacks the personal touch, she thinks. Not always. But sometimes you just need to _feel_ that cashmere set to check if it’s up to your best friend’s very high standards.

And, against all evidence, she does actually _enjoy_ Christmas shopping.

(Apart from the crowds.)

She loves the lights, the decorations. She loves picking out the perfect gifts for her friends—only when it goes _well_ —and picking matching wrapping paper.

It’s just, this year, _Jughead_.

When did he get so difficult to buy for? Is this what growing up is?

She wanders into Bath and Body Works. Again. Just in case they’d magically put out something she missed. Just in case that magically happens to be the perfect gift for Jughead.

(What? He likes all these fancy soaps and candles. He’s an _adult_ now.)

Luckily, she manages to avoid any staff interaction, partly because they probably recognize her from forty minutes previous, partly because they’re all busy. She stops over at the candles (again), but after a quick second scan, she realizes they have practically all of the ones that match the chic monochromatic theme of their house _and_ smell nice.

So. Not a candle then.

Or soap. Or bubble bath. They have far too much already.

(Why is she here again?)

Jughead fancies himself—though she knows he’d never admit it—as a bit of a hipster. A true hipster writer. He loves the whole plaid shirt and suspenders vibe (and Betty _really_ does, too), and he even adores his stupidly overpriced coffee. Sitting in a coffee shop with a notebook and fountain pen is his favorite place to act out his greatest (okay, maybe not _greatest_ ) fantasies.

Which is why she heads into Forever 21 in search of something, _anything_ , to egg him on.

She finds a nice pink and black plaid shirt in there. It’s that super thick material, the proper cozy winter stuff, but as she’s carrying it around in search of something else, she thinks it might be too warm for him. He runs warm. Hell, he’s the one who’s constantly turning down the thermostat, complaining of being _just too hot_ , so perhaps a cozy shirt is not the ideal gift.

(She buys it anyway.)

A stand full of wool beanies catch her eye, so she speeds over, standing in front of the vast collection and staring.

Jughead used to wear a beanie. From the ages of 5—when they first met in kindergarten—to 18—when they left for college together—he wore a gray-knit beanie with crown-like points. Every single day. For someone who runs hot, that beanie sure as hell never left his goddamn head. Even on 90-degree summer days.

Before they moved into their house, he spent a large amount of time debating whether or not he needed to take his childhood beanie with him. They had long conversations about it, about whether it was time to let go of the past, but in the end, he decided to keep it. It’s hidden away in the back of his sock drawer, and sometimes she catches him sitting on their bed, just holding it.

She picks up one of the thinner knit one in black. It’s soft to the touch, a lot softer than his childhood one. She likes it. She can imagine him wearing it. A simple black beanie to add to his true hipster form.

Hm. She wonders if he’d like it, or maybe it’s dipping back into the past too much.

_Well_ , it’s not like she has any other ideas. She likes it, and hopefully he will too.

She walks out of Forever 21 with somewhat of a spring in her step. Two down, _some_ to go. It’s not like she can get him just that, so on she goes.

But first, food. She’s hungry and thirsty and her feet are killing. She definitely deserves a sit down before she continues shopping for her nightmarish boyfriend. Okay, maybe nightmarish is slightly _too_ mean. He’s just a pain in the ass this year when it comes to gifts. Hey, perhaps she should give him a _different_ kind of gift. Though honestly, it wouldn’t be much of a gift, more of a… weekly occurrence.

(That’s _one_ thing they’ve made time for.)

(Guess it couldn’t exactly _hurt_ though. Maybe she’ll go with black this time…)

In the food court, she debates for at least two minutes before ordering both KFC and A&W. A burger from one, fries from the other. That’s definitely a trait she’s learned from Jughead, but who cares? It is, after all, Christmas time. 

As she eats her food, she contemplates her next move. A beanie, maybe a book too. But she needs something else, something… special.

It isn’t until she’s finished her food, left the food court, and is standing on the escalator going back upstairs when a shop window catches her eye. The giant photo of a silver ring grabs her attention.

Walking into Tiffany’s, she winces at the first price tag she sees but thinks _fuck it, it’s Christmas._

–

It’s Christmas Eve when Jughead battles his way through thousands of people on the subway and millions of people in the mall. If he didn’t hate Christmas enough already, then he sure as hell does now.

Well, honestly, he doesn’t _hate_ it, not anymore. As a child, he did. As a child with a dysfunctional—and even that’s generous— family, he hated Christmas. But ever since moving across the country with his wonderful girlfriend of eight years, he’s learned to love it.

(Except right now in this exact moment yet another person barges into him without apologizing.)

But his girlfriend, the amazing, incredible, life-saving Betty Cooper, is why he’s here today. Quite literally here at the mall, and less literally being, well, alive.

Basically, he’s trying to buy her a Christmas gift.

He has somewhat of an idea, so that makes it easier, but regardless, he really shouldn’t have left it until the last minute. He just… always has done, and this year isn’t any exception. Between moving into a new house and working all hours under the sun, his spare time is very limited. Any spare time he’s had as of late goes towards decorating or undressing his girlfriend.

Hence the very late, some might call ‘last minute’, shopping.

In his defense, he managed to buy gifts for those they aren’t seeing over the festive period. With the help of Betty. She sorted JB and a few of their friends, whilst he ordered his father and college friend gifts online. It worked out well, actually, because he bought them both gag gifts from the same website. Less shipping costs, turned up together, then he just reboxed them and sent them on.

So that left Betty for him to buy for.

Which, realistically and with the gift he has in mind, cannot and should not be bought online.

He planned to come to the mall last weekend. He had a clear Saturday from both work and house renovations, it was slightly less close to Christmas than, well, the actual day before, so that was his plan.

And, as they say, best laid plans.

In other words, it didn’t happen.

In his defense (again), it was Betty’s fault. He hadn’t told her of his shopping plans for fear of her enthusiastic insistence she join him, which, honestly, he would’ve loved. Going shopping alone _sucks_ , but then there was the whole… reason he was meant to be going, so it wasn’t like he could let her join him. Unfortunately.

So his plan was to tell her just before he left. “Just gotta pop out!” No lying needed. “I’ll bring back bagels!” Perfect. She’d be happy with that, surely. And she’d probably even get the drift.

But what actually went down was Betty deciding to showcase her new lacy black underwear that morning, whispering to him, “This was meant to be your Christmas gift, but you’ve been very good this year.”

And how, exactly, was he meant to resist _that_?

(He spent the day in bed instead. You win some, you lose some.)

Ever since, he’d been 100 miles an hour at work, barely stopping for air, let alone shopping, with his last and only day off before the big day being Christmas fucking Eve.

_Brilliant._

Brilliant and busy as fuck.

At least he has a slight idea of where to go.

But first, he joins the masses in the food court, eyeing up the amazing variety of restaurants. He rarely comes to the mall, so being at the food court is rare, and for someone who loves food as much as he does, it’s a travesty. There are so many to choose from! This will _never_ get old, even if there are practically billions of people in one, albeit large, room.

He orders from three different restaurants. First, a burger and soda from In-N-Out, then another burger and fries from Burger King, and finally, a dipped cone from Dairy Queen. In his humble opinion, the best combination.

(It’s just a shame he doesn’t have the best person in his life here with him.

No, he’s not codependent. Just, food and Betty is _truly_ the best combination.)

He eats his food as slowly as humanly possible, which is unlike him actually. It’s possible that he’s putting off the inevitable that is the shopping part of his shopping trip, not because he doesn’t know what to buy but because he’s worried she won’t like it and that he could potentially ruin Christmas.

The rational part of his brain reminds him that Betty _loves_ him, has done for eight years. And she’s been dropping hints for the past… at least four. He’ll be fine.

Okay, so maybe he’s worried about getting ambushed in the jewelry shop too. Staff in those shops mean well, but when you’re spending that much money, the least they can do is leave you the fuck alone.

Oh, and he’s dreading the crowds.

After his food, he decides to brave it. Before he even thinks about going to the jewelry shop, he needs to find a couple of little gifts to wrap up and put under the tree that takes up basically all of their living room.

(They had a… _not_ an argument, but a small disagreement about the tree. Betty wanted a real one, Jughead wanted that fake one they’d been using in their previous (and first) apartment together. It was one of their first joint purchases, bought at Home Depot years ago. For Jughead, it has sentimental value, but for Betty, its falling-apartness outweighed that.

In the end, they agreed on keeping the fake tree and putting it up in their shared office. The real tree takes pride of place in their living room and has a multitude of white lights and silver decorations.

Jughead must admit that sex on the rug by the Christmas tree in their very own house has to be up there with some of the best.)

First stop is Barnes and Noble. It’s busy. Packed, even. They have loud festive music playing and decorations everywhere, but instead of getting him into the festive spirit, it’s making him want to run away and hide in a cabin until the new year.

But _no_. He’s here to buy books, the fancy hardback ones Betty loves to keep on the shelf in their office. And he has it on good intel that she’d quite like Beloved by Toni Morrison, the same book he bought her for their first Christmas together. This time, he’s been told (AKA late night post-sex conversations before one of them falls asleep) that she wants the special hardback edition to add to her collection. And that, he can do.

Along the way, he picks up a couple of other things: a card game he hopes they can play with their friends; a hardback notebook covered in butterflies because no one can ever have too many notebooks, least of all Betty; and a tiny plush dog that made his heart melt. He’ll give the card game to her today because that’s more of a _them_ thing, but the other two can be extra gifts for tomorrow.

He feels good with himself as he skips through people towards the till, holding an armful of gifts.

“Last minute shopping, eh?” the petite woman behind the counter asks as she wraps his purchases in a Christmassy tissue paper.

He grins. “Something like that. Guess that’s what happens when life gets in the way of Christmas.”

She nods knowingly as she rips off a piece of tape. “For anyone special?”

For once, he doesn’t mind the idle chatter, especially when it means he can mention Betty. “My girlfriend.” He bites down on his lip in an attempt to stop his smile from splitting open his face. “I, uh, well, these are sort of… in between gifts. I need something to throw her off the scent because I’m…” he trails off, wondering why he’s telling a stranger this.

The stranger in question doesn’t seem to mind. In fact, she flashes a supportive smile at him as she struggles to wrap the small soft toy.

He swallows. “I needed something to give her in the morning because I’m planning on proposing in the evening–”

The girl squeals in excitement. “Oh my god!” she exclaims. “Really? Wow, I’m so happy for you.”

He nods nervously. “Yeah, I’m going to buy a ring after this.”

She’s beaming at him, the toy half-wrapped, abandoned by her excitement. “Christmas proposal!” she coos. “How romantic!”

“I hope so.”

As she finishes wrapping, a smile spread across her face, she says, “Don’t forget the mistletoe!”

He hadn’t thought of that for some reason, so he adds it to his mental list and replies, “I won’t.”

She bags up his items with less conversation, just offering him the total, which he pays, and a receipt, which he takes even though he knows he won’t need it. Remnants of that smile are splattered across her face, though, and as he goes to leave, she turns to him and says, “Good luck, sir!” before handing him a $10 voucher. “Bring your fiance back after Christmas.”

He takes it without knowing what to say. “I– Thank you.” He smiles appreciatively. “Now we need to hope she says ‘yes’!”

The girl waves him off. “Of course she will.”

He’s pretty certain she will, too.

After Barnes and Noble, he feels even happier with himself. Not only does he have gifts for Betty, he’s also now feeling in the festive spirit. Excitement and nerves run through his body as he heads across the mall to the jewelry shop. When someone walks into him, he can’t bring himself to care. It’s Christmas time, after all.

–

Christmas morning in the Cooper-Jones house is a relaxed one.

They wake up just before nine and plod into the kitchen in their festive pajamas (Jughead’s were an early gift from Betty, but he can’t say he dislikes them). They make breakfast together—pancakes and waffles—whilst listening to Betty’s Christmas playlist that he used to hate. Now, with Betty in their own house, it’s nothing but perfect, everything he ever could have wished for.

Jughead’s finishing off his fourth pancake as Betty’s still on her first waffle when she asks, “Are we doing gifts before or after lunch?”

He swallows his mouthful. “Both?”

She raises an eyebrow, but there’s a glint in her eye. “What sort of gift are you after?”

“Now you’re talkin’, Betts,” he smirks, and she giggles. “I have a couple gifts for you now, but your main one is for later.”

She grins bashfully. “Same here.”

After tidying up their mess of a kitchen, they head back to bed, both armed with wrapped gifts. Betty’s look considerably better done than his, but what can he say? He was very short on time, and really, only the wrapping of one small box bothered him.

Comforter covering their legs, Jughead starts by giving Betty what he hopes is the notebook. She opens it carefully, trying not to rip the paper just like she’s always done, and he watches on in pain.

“Just rip it,” he mutters fondly. “It’s not like we can use it again.” He gestures to the paper which, in all fairness, is 90% creases and definitely not reusable, no matter how hard she tries.

She complies, tearing the front of the paper, right through the middle of a snowman. She laughs when she reaches a layer of tissue paper, ripping through that, too, until finally, she reaches… the _book._

“Oops,” Jughead says, letting out a nervous laugh. “Wrong one.”

Flipping over the book, she looks up at him with wide eyes. “Shall I…?” she trails off, and he shakes his head, pushing it towards her. She flips it back over, pulling the final layer of paper off. As she does so, a disbelieving smile spreads across her face. “Jug, this is…”

“Just like back in the day,” he finishes for her, smiling himself.

She picks it up as if it’s made of glass and she’s too scared to break it. “It’s exactly what I wanted. For the shelf.”

He nods. His hands move to cover hers as he takes the book from her and sets it aside so he can lean in and kiss her. “I love you,” he murmurs just before his lips meet hers.

“I love you too,” she whispers in between kisses, her hands coming up to cup his face and pull him closer.

As much as she wants to pursue this moment between them, she really wants him to open his gifts first. All except one, of course.

“After,” she promises with a final kiss stamped onto his lips before she pushes what she knows is the beanie into his hands. “Open this first.”

He does. He opens it a lot less neater than she did, ripping the paper and pulling out the black fabric. As he holds it up, realization evidently spreads across his face. “Is this– Oh my _god_.” He immediately pulls it over his head just as expertly as he did all those years ago. “Betty, this is perfect.”

She grins, eyeing him up and down. Even with festive pajamas and a black beanie, he looks _good_. That strand of hair that used to hang out of his old beanie is there, too, only slightly messier and bed-headier than back then.

“It looks amazing,” she says, biting her bottom lip. “You look… the same. Older, but the same.”

He adjusts it slightly. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

Purely because she can’t resist, she leans in and presses a long kiss to his mouth. She can feel him smile into it, and she fights the urge to relax into it. “More gifts!” she exclaims as she pulls back, giggling.

He gives her the notebook next, which she absolutely adores, telling him it’ll replace her current, almost full notebook—the one she uses for work. Then, she nervously hands him the shirt. He immediately jumps up off the bed, shrugging it on over his pajamas and twirling as he waits for her comments.

“You look great, Jug,” she tells him honestly. “Well, maybe better without the pajamas, but great nevertheless.”

It’s exactly what he wants to hear.

Somehow, the tiny plush dog goes down even better than the hardback copy of _Beloved_. She clutches it with a look of delight on her face and watery eyes, saying, “Is this a dummy run for our own dog?”

He grins at her. “Give me six months to get this place finished,” he promises, and that seems to be enough for her.

The final gift is a book for him. She picked it up on a whim, hoping he’d like it. And, well, to say he liked it is an understatement. He is _over the goddamn moon._

“How did you know I wanted this?”

She shrugs. “I didn’t. Just saw it and thought of you, I guess.”

He throws the ripped wrapping paper on the floor and carefully places his new pride and joy (this book) on his nightstand. The beanie and shirt stay on as he pushes her down on the bed and climbs on top of her. “You’re my soulmate,” he tells her, pressing a series of kisses along her jaw.

“And you’re mine,” she promises before he silences her with his lips.

–

Veronica arrives at exactly 1 p.m. armed with gifts, ready-made food, and alcohol.

This year, Betty and Jughead invited her for lunch with them before she has to visit her parents’ house—something they know she is dreading. She gratefully agreed, assuring them she’d bring all of the food as made by her private chef, and getting out of cooking was something neither of them was gonna turn down.

After a short gift-giving session, Christmas lunch gets reheated and they all tuck in. Conversation flows between them all, as does alcohol. Jughead makes sure he doesn’t drink _too_ much, though a small amount of alcohol does help his nerves for later.

(He doesn’t have a secure plan. He’s waiting until Veronica leaves, which is due to be around 5 p.m., so he’s _thinking_ he might try to put the mistletoe up somewhere and just… hand her the box underneath it.)

Lunch is amazing. Having Veronica here is nice, too. It’s the perfect first Christmas in their new house. Jughead’s happy. Betty’s happy. Everything is perfect.

They bid goodbye to Veronica slightly earlier than expected.

“Thank you for a wonderful day,” she says as she hugs Betty, then Jughead.

“Of course,” he says fondly, hugging back. “We’ll see you soon.”

“Good luck at your parents’, V.”

Once everything is, yet again, clean, Betty goes to use the bathroom whilst Jughead offers to set up a movie. A Christmas movie, of course, maybe _The Holiday_ , and lots of blankets. Except… he decides _now_ is his opportunity. He sneaks into their room, opens up his sock drawer, and pulls out the tiny square box covered in a silver Christmas paper. It sits underneath his childhood beanie, and the slightly scratchy woolen material of it feels him with a sense of nostalgia that only serves to remind him quite how long he’s been in love with Betty Cooper.

A bubble of excitement rises up inside of him. He’s about to propose! He’s about to propose to his girlfriend of eight years! He’s about to offer to spend the rest of his life with the love of his life, his only love.

_Wow._

In the living room, he sits nervously on top of the blankets, movie and snacks ready, ring sitting heavy in the palm of his hand. He hears the bathroom door open and footsteps coming towards him, so he instinctively stands up.

When he finds Betty, he smiles. “Hey.”

She walks over to him, one hand behind her back. “Everything all right?”

He swallows thickly in an attempt to push away the lingering nerves and nods. “I, uh, I wanted to give you your last gift.”

“Me too,” she says with a giggle. “Shall we sit?”

They sit on the sofa, knees touching as they face each other. Betty’s holding something in her hands, what he guesses is his gift, and hers is hidden in his lap.

“Can I–” he starts.

“So I–” she says at the same time, and they both giggle.

“You go,” he offers.

“You can.”

Taking a deep breath, he hands her the box, watching her with wide eyes. She carefully unwraps it, putting the paper aside, but not before she’s stuffed whatever she was holding underneath a blanket. She stares at the box, an unreadable emotion on her face, then she looks up at him.

“Jug, is this…?”

He blinks. “Just… open it. Please.”

She lets out a breathy laugh. “No, Jug, look.” She pulls out an almost identical box and hands it to him.

His eyes flicker between her and the box. “Betty,” he says, grinning.

“Let’s open them at the same time.”

He can’t quite believe it, so he agrees.

On the count of three, they both open up their respective boxes to reveal matching rings. Their eyes meet and they both exclaim, “Yes!” with massive grins and teary eyes. Somewhere between the two of them, they meet in a messy but passionate kiss, clutching each other and unable to stop _smiling_.

When Jughead pulls back, he thinks of two things. First, “Wait! Let me put your ring on.”

She wipes her eyes and holds out her hand, so he takes the ring from the box and slides it onto her finger. It’s a perfect fit. When she does the same to him, he’s grinning so hard he’s half expecting his face to split in two. He just… _can’t believe it_.

Just as he’s about to lean in again, the second thing hits him. “I forgot the mistletoe!”

**Author's Note:**

> we love some self-indulgent christmas fluff! i hope you liked it as much as i liked writing it! i have a second (unrelated) christmas fic coming at some point so keep an eye out for that if you so desire. but until then, please let me know your festive feelings in the form of comments and/or kudos and i’ll probably love you forever. 
> 
> stay safe & merry (early) christmas/happy normal day!


End file.
